CNN
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It's rare that I come across a new technology that feels groundbreaking, but last night, as I sat on a couch in a private demo room on Apple's campus, donning the company's just-announced Vision Pro mixed-reality headset, I felt like I'd seen the future — or at least an early, very expensive prototype of it.
In the 30-minute demo, a virtual butterfly landed on my finger, a dinosaur with elaborate scales tried to bite me, and I stood inches from the piano as Alicia Keys serenaded me in a recording studio. In another immersive video, a tiny bear cub swam beside me on a tranquil lake, and it felt so real that it reminded me of an experience I had with a loved one who recently passed away. I couldn't even wipe away the tears in the headset.
Earlier in the day, Apple unveiled the device at its developer event, its most ambitious and riskiest new hardware in years. The headset blends virtual reality and augmented reality, overlaying virtual images over live video of the real world. At the event, Apple CEO Tim Cook hailed Vision Pro as a “revolutionary product” that could change the way users interact with technology, each other and the world around them. He called it “the first product that lets you see instead of see.”
But it's clearly still in development. Apps and experiences are limited, users are kept tethered to an iPhone-sized battery pack with a mere two hours of battery life, and the device can be a bit jarring for the first few minutes of use. Apple also plans to sell the device for $3,499 when it launches early next year, which is higher than the rumored price and much higher than other headsets on the market that have struggled to gain widespread adoption so far.
With its loyal following and impressive hardware track record, Apple may be able to convince developers, early adopters and some enterprise customers to shell out for the device, but if it wants to attract a more mainstream demographic, it's going to need one or more “killer apps,” as the industry calls them.
Based on my demo, Apple still has a long way to go, but it's off to a compelling start.
Dedicated building and optometrist
A few hours after the keynote event, I arrived at Apple's sprawling campus in Cupertino, California, in a building specially constructed for demos and information sessions about the new headset.
An Apple employee scanned my face to customize the fit of the headset. I then walked into a small room where an optometrist asked me if I wore glasses or corrective lenses. I had LASIK surgery years ago, and people around me had their glasses scanned so the headset could suggest their specific prescription. It's a nice feat that differentiates Apple from its competitors, ensuring that you won't have to squeeze frames into your headset. But it's unclear if the company plans to handle this process at scale if millions of people buy the device.
The initial setup process was a bit uncomfortable — it made me feel a bit awkward and claustrophobic — until I got used to the device, which tracked my gaze, scanned my hands, and mapped the room to better customize my augmented reality experience.
But Apple has also taken steps to mitigate the motion sickness issues that have plagued its other headsets: The headset uses the R1 processor, a custom chip that reduces the potentially nauseating latency issues found in similar products.
As many viewers were quick to point out on Monday, the headset itself looks like a pair of designer ski goggles, with a soft, adjustable strap on top, a “digital crown” (larger than the one on the Apple Watch) on the back, another digital crown on top that acts like a home button, and a wire that connects to an external battery pack.
The headset itself felt light enough at first, but despite Apple's design prowess, it was hard to shake the thought of having a computer on your face. Luckily, unlike other computer products, the headset stayed cool to my face the entire time I was using it, thanks in large part to the quiet fan and airflow that circulates throughout the system.
Unlike other headsets, the new mixed reality headset also displays the user's eyes outward, so “you're not isolated from the people around you, you can see them and they can see you,” Alan Dye, vice president of Human Interface, said in the keynote.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see what my eyes or anyone else's eyes saw through the headset during the demo.
Once I put the device on, I was greeted with an iOS-like interface: Using just my eye movements, my thumb and index finger touch act as a “select” button, allowing me to easily switch between apps like Messages, FaceTime, Safari, and Photos. This was more intuitive than I expected, and worked even when my hands were on my lap.
However, some apps have a better experience than others. It was beautiful to see images displayed larger than life in the Photos app, but it's hard to imagine I'd feel the need to do this often while at home on my couch. Vision Pro also has a spatial photo option, allowing users to view images and videos in 3D to give the feeling that they're directly in the scene. Again, this is cool, but unnecessary.
In another demo, an Apple employee wearing a Vision Pro headset contacted me over FaceTime from across campus. As we talked about an event earlier that day, her “persona” (a digital representation of herself not wearing Vision Pro) appeared in front of me. She looked real, but was clearly not real, just a pseudo-human. (Apple didn't scan my face to create the persona; that's supposed to happen during the setup phase, using the OpticID security feature.)
Apple employees then shared virtual whiteboards, dragging, dropping and highlighting images of interior designs. Cook noted AR's potential to foster collaboration, and it's clear how the tool could be used in meetings to realize that potential. What's less clear is why most employers would spend $3,499 per employee per device to make this happen, rather than simply using Zoom.
Like so much of the product announcement, the pitch felt ill-timed. Earlier in the pandemic, more people might have jumped at the chance to create these virtual experiences while we worked and interacted almost entirely from home. But now, with more employees returning to the office and businesses looking to cut costs amid economic uncertainty, the justification for this pricey device seems less clear than it once was.
But the real appeal of Vision Pro is in the immersive video it delivers. Watching the underwater scenes from Avatar 2 in 3D, for example, is a surreal experience that puts you in the middle of the ocean with the mythical creatures. It's easy to imagine Hollywood filmmakers being on board with creating an experience specifically for the headset.
Apple is also uniquely positioned to bring these experiences to the device. The company has close ties to the entertainment industry, including former Apple board member and Disney CEO Bob Iger. In a video recorded during the event, Iger announced that Disney+ will be available on the headset at launch. Apple also teased new experiences on the headset from National Geographic, Marvel and ESPN.
Nearly every new Apple product, from the iPhone to the Apple Watch, promises to change how we live, work, and interact with the world with screens of various sizes. The Vision Pro has the potential to do all of this in even more impressive ways. But unlike my first time with an iPhone or a smartwatch, after 30 minutes with the Vision Pro, I was happy to let it go and return to the real world.
